Levy’s job
is a dream that works

Film Marketing Summit 2011

After a long career of working on film projects alongside dinosaurs (“Jurassic Park”), aliens (“E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial”) and Roman warriors (“Gladiator”), you might think that nothing much would surprise Marvin J. Levy, marketing honcho at DreamWorks Studios.

But the man receiving the Variety Marketing Award for Lifetime Achievement today says, “I know too many people in this world of motion picture marketing who could also be candidates for this award. I’ve been lucky, I’ve had the opportunity to work on so many projects with so many great people, most of all Steven Spielberg.”

Levy’s resume is loaded with heavyweight jobs: Columbia Pictures vice president of advertising-publicity-promotion, marketing consultant at Amblin Entertainment and then his current gig at DreamWorks Studios. He’s got “Real Steel,” “The Adventures of Tintin” and “War Horse” on his plate for the rest of 2011.

“One of the biggest challenges over the years was the rise of the Internet and an explosion of other media for reaching the public,” Levy says.

He praises his DreamWorks colleagues, likening the collaborative atmosphere at the studio to being part of a “big family.”

Levy is also involved in the USC Shoah Visual History Foundation, the Righteous Persons Foundation and the Starlight Starlight Children’s Foundation. He is also the chairman of the public relations branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is on the board of governors for the Academy.